Reign: 3x01 “Three Queens, Two Tigers”

William: “Every monarchy needs a clear heir to the throne, so power can be passed down

without bloodshed or the fear of it.” 

Welcome back to the third season of “Reign”. The opening episode was full of boats, cages, wild animals, including of a human variety. With all the sex, the actions, the plotting and travel at a speed worthy of J. Verne’s Nautilus, the tiger totally stole the entire episode. Well, maybe not the entire episode, but definitely some parts of it.  

Come to think of it, Mary and Elizabeth are in the same predicament, or should I say boat, since it’s more appropriate. Mary is wed but without a child. Despite the lovemaking marathon and Francis’ pending death there will be no child (at least that’s what happened in real life). With all her legitimacy and marital status, without Francis and without an heir, there won't be a place for her at French Court. She will only have Scotland.

As for Elizabeth, she is refusing suitor after suitor because there isn’t anyone who would make a fair union. She can marry up and loose her power to a man, or marry down and “diminish her own standing”. Plus she is in love with Robert Dudley. Where does that leave her? Unwed and with no heir. But she will always have England.

It looks like the English Court will play a much bigger role than I first anticipated. Considering this is the series about Mary, bringing in another powerful queen not for just few episodes but for a season, I assume, is a very interesting choice and a bold move. She is here to stay. As are other important historical figures we met. Not only Robert and William, but also Robert’s wife, Amy, which means we will be back and forth between two countries this year, and I’m just not sure how they will handle it. By 'it' I mean give us interesting story lines and give all the characters an appropriate amount of screen time. We’ll see, I guess.

I must confess, it was an absolute delight seeing the two queens scheming. Well, to be perfectly honest Catherine was doing most of it, whereas Elizabeth was portrayed as somewhat weak and prone to fall under the influence of others, which is not how I perceived her (the actual historical figure) at all. But I will let it slide, because it wasn’t long until Elizabeth took power over her own life in her own  hands, plus watching Catherine moving chess pieces around the aboard is always a lot of fun. At one point when it became obvious she’s heading towards discrediting Mary, I got worried she’d use rape, but thankfully she didn’t sink that low and only used Mary’s affair with Conde to make Rome withdraw it’s support. But Rome would rather kill the messengers witnesses than turn their back to a catholic queen. Anther miscalculation on Catherine’s part. She definitely isn’t at the top of her game lately.

Last time she ended up in exile, this time in the cage with a tiger. Poor tiger! I’m not kidding. I loved how Mary and Francis tricked Elizabeth, but putting queen mother in the cage was a bit over the top. But then again, maybe not so much; to contain Catherine de Medici you either have to kill her or throw her in a prison cell. She already been in a prison cell, remember how well that worked? So tiger it is.

Historical bits

At a time of Francis’s death Charles was 10 years old. Here he is obviously a bit older (as are many of our cast for obvious reasons), however he is older that I though he would be when Catherine described him to Elizabeth.

History had seen many kings and queens who got married at a very tender age. Having said that, the age difference between Elizabeth and Charles is still very big, her being 27 and him only around 12-13.

The historical fact, that I didn’t know about, is that he was indeed Elizabeth’s suitor at one point in time (couldn’t find the exact dates), as were his other brothers Henri III and Francis, Duke of Anjou. 

And while we are talking about brothers, let me tell you another interesting fact about Francis, Duke of Anjou. Did you know that his birth name was Hercule and he changed it to Francis in honour of his late brother (our) Francis II? I didn't know that.

Some observations  

I must say Rachel Skarsten was much more believable and convincing as Queen Elizabeth in this one than in the second season’s finale.

Greer and her one night stand pirate made me smile, they are sort of meant for each other, if you think about it.

I bet fake Catherine will never ever have sex anywhere other than in a comfort of the bedroom. Oh…. right, she killed herself. Well… let it be a lesson for all of us. Then again Henry proved that even a bedroom isn’t safe when he threw his lover out of the window.

It was quite improbable that the King and Queen of France were allowed to get on the boat and sail off by themselves.

Bash was trying to find Delphine, which proved to be relatively easy considering his own body was acting as a map of sorts. I’m not sure what to think of Delphine. If she wasn’t the one who killed that boy, who then? Do we really need yet another supernatural mistery?
 

I am absolutely enjoying this little dance that Narcisse and Lola are doing. I’m surprised, that they are taking it slow, but ultimately glad.

I was wondering about the ‘time’ on the series in general and this episode specifically. We can deduce the year based on what is happening, but when it comes to an episode, it is a difficult task. Like, take this episode, for instance, I’m amazed at how quickly everyone was moving around Europe. Catherine’s messengers were able to arrive to Rome in a matter of a day or two top. That’s awfully fast for 16^th century. Not to mention the travel between England and France with kidnapped Catherine that took what seemed to be only one day. I know France and England are separated by only a channel, but again it should have taken them a lot longer.

No Nostradamus and no Leith. Alas.

No Claude and no Kenna either. Thankfully. 

And where is Conde? Considering everyone went to England and back, it's taking him rather long time to get to Elizabeth. Unless he is hiding at his brother's.

Wardrobe department

The “Best Dress of the week” Award goes to Catherine. We haven’t seen the full picture of this dress, but the top and hairdo ensemble was quite lovely.

  
















The “Worst Dress of the week” Award goes to Mary. That fluffy feather cabaret-style dress did not suit her at all.

Memorable Quotes:

Catherine: “She's your cousin, she's my daughter-in-law. And to kill a monarch, well, that's not a precedent we want to set, now, is it?”

It didn’t save Charles I, did it?

Francis: “You are the Dauphin now, the next in line.”

Charles: “So I'm to learn about trade routes and intricate power plays our nobles favor?”

Handsome pirate: “I'll teach them not to judge you.  You can teach them not to judge me. They'll grow, knowing they've parents who've each found a way to weave some right into what many consider wrong.”

How very beautiful… if only he meant it…

Mary: “We have many carriages, but few moving prisons. It's hard to say which of you needs thicker bars. But I know who will suffer more.”

Sol’s rating: 3 for this opener. What did you think?